Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 28, 2025

A Microfluidic Approach for the Study of Ice and Clathrate Hydrate Crystallization
Published on: August 18, 2022
The dynamics of supercooled water can be predicted from room temperature simulations
Zeke A Piskulich1, Ward H Thompson1
1Department of Chemistry, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA.
Abstract:
There is strong interest in understanding the behavior of water in its supercooled state. While many of the qualitative trends of water dynamical properties in the supercooled regime are well understood, the connections between the structure and dynamics of room temperature and supercooled water have not been fully elucidated. Here, we show that the reorientational time scales and diffusion coefficients of supercooled water can be predicted from simulations of room temperature liquid water. Specifically, the derivatives of these dynamical time scales with respect to inverse temperature are directly calculated using the fluctuation theory applied to dynamics. These derivatives are used to predict the time scales and activation energies in the supercooled regime based on the temperature dependence in one of two forms: that based on the stability limit conjecture or assuming an equilibrium associated with a liquid-liquid phase transition. The results indicate that the retarded dynamics of supercooled water originate from structures and mechanisms that are present in the liquid under ambient conditions.
Related Concept Videos
Entropy
States of Water
Water freezes when the intermolecular forces are greater than the kinetic energy. Unlike most other substances, water is less dense in its solid state than in its liquid state. This is because each water molecule can form...
Phase Transitions: Vaporization and Condensation
Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing
Heating and Cooling Curves
For instance, the addition of heat raises the temperature of a solid; the amount of heat absorbed depends on the heat capacity of the solid (q = mcsolidΔT). According to thermochemistry, the relation between the amount of heat absorbed or released by a substance, q, and its...
Effects of Temperature on Free Energy

